At this point it's pretty clear that video DRM and digital purchase pricing exists as they do because they'd rather you didn't buy movies, but rented them when you wanted to watch them, or (preferably) rented the capability to watch them.
Hence, the DRM.
If it comes with DRM, it's a rental, not a purchase, no matter how much you paid for it.
Why hasn't there ever been key-transfer features to facilitate sales/trades/loans? Why are there always platform locks and media locks and account locks? Why is there so much effort to stop legal backups, loaning, libraries, etc?
I don't doubt individual good people or divisions exist in major media companies that would just as well sell a movie for $20 and be done with it. But the repeated DRM strategy does not jive with that at all.
How many movies do you have that see repeat viewings?
- no theatre[0]
- rent all movies (mostly via Apple TV and Xbox360)
- if I ever want to see a movie again, push it to a wishlist
- regularly scan for sales and buy only movies on the wishlist, and only if their price is below a given cap.
By that time retail prices have dropped a long way down from the original price, and my flat is not filled with watch-once-and-take-dust frisbees, which I happened to pay less and see much earlier than if I waited for prices to drop. And while it seems I pay for some films twice, in the end I actually pay less for those than if I bought them on the first view.
[0]: Counting theatre for two persons, plus parking/public transport, I could watch five to seven movies for the same price at home, in a more comfortable situation, with a better quality. Around here theatres are a massive social-engineered ripoff.